A conventional roof deck can be constructed from plywood or any other approved material. An insulation barrier formed from fiberglass or some other approved insulation material can be added to the deck. Thereover, a weather-proof roofing membrane can be installed and secured in place to make the roof weather resistant. One apparatus for securing a roofing membrane utilizes a small, circular, metal plate having a hole in the center thereof and a roofing nail. In order to anchor the roofing membrane, the small, circular, metal plates are placed in rows at spaced positions on the roofing membrane and the nail is driven through the hole in each plate, the membrane, the insulation material and then into the roof deck. The roofing membrane sheets are secured in this matter at the seams, where two membrane sheets overlap, and also at the spaced locations on each roofing membrane sheet. Although the metal plate and nail apparatus securely anchor the roofing membrane, there exists a potential for a leak to develop at each location where the roofing membrane has been penetrated by a nail. Recognizing this problem, various methods and devices have been developed to either seal the roofing nails or screws that penetrate the roofing membrane or to affix the roofing membrane to the roof deck utilizing an apparatus and method which does not pierce the membrane. One disadvantage of the system that requires a sealing operation at each point where a roofing membrane is pierced by a fastener resides in the fact that such operations are necessarily time consuming, labor intensive and not conductive to rapid installation of a roofing membrane. Another disadvantage of such a system is that they utilize some type of adhesive fastener apparatus. A problem with some types of adhesive fasteners is that they do not lead themselves to rapid installation of a roofing membrane. Other types of adhesive fastening methods and apparatuses for securing roofing membranes do not adequately retain the roofing membrane on the roofing deck and therefore gravel or some type of ballast must-be placed on the top surface of the roofing membrane to insure that it will stay in position.
Thus, there still exists a need for a method and apparatus for adequately anchoring a roofing membrane to a roof deck wherein the membrane is not penetrated by any fastener.